Still remember this photo being one of the first "leaked" photo for the Dell Inspiron Mini 8 netbook? It's in glossy red.
For some reason, when Dell first officially launched the Inspiron Mini 9 a few months ago, they do not make this color available. Only until recently, the Mini 9 in glossy red has finally made available in Japan. In addition, a blush pink version is also available.
Dell is also releasing the new Platinum Package which features a 32 SSD and comes with a price of around $569. This is also available in Japan only at this time.
No announcement on when the new colors will be available in other countries yet. If you can't wait to get a pink netbook, check out this list of pink mini laptop.
Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year in the US, and Dell appears to be planning to offer a discount on the Inspiron Mini 9 netbook with a price of only $299.
If you are planning to get an Inspiron Mini 9, or other brands netbook, this will be a great time to get one. Here's a useful post where you will find tips for finding a good deal on a netbook this Black Friday.
Inspiron Mini 9 is getting a coat of black paint and renamed as Vostro A90.
Typically targeting the business user, the all-black Vostro A90 certainly make it looks better. Other than that, all other specs of the netbook is identical to the Inspiron Mini 9:
8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display
1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU
1GB of RAM
8GB of flash memory
Bluetooth
4 cell battery
Windows XP
Currently, the Vostro A90 netbook is launched only in Japan, and the price is set at ¥92,830 (about $998 US), which cost way more than the Inspiron Mini 9 and certainly not what we'd expect a Vostro machine to go for.
Dell Inspiron Mini 9 was launched recently as the company's step into the netbook market. Soon after the released of the Inspiron Mini 9, it has been reviewed quite a number of times on various websites on the Internet. Overall, the rating given to this 8.9-inch Dell netbook is above average.
Specification Before going through the reviews, let's look at the specification for the Dell Inspiron Mini 9:
1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom Processor
Up to 1GB DDR2 533MHz RAM
Glossy 8.9 inch LED display (1024X600)
Up to 16GB Solid State Drive
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
1.3 Megapixel webcam (optional)
Bluetooth 2.1 capability (optional)
4-Cell 32Wh Li-ion battery (4 hours battery life)
Size: 9.2" x 6.8"x 1.3"
Weight: 2lb 5.5oz (include battery)
OS: Ubuntu / Windows XP
The Ubuntu version of Inspiron Mini 9 has a starting price of $349 while the Windows version start from $399.
The overview video of the Inspiron Mini 9 from Dell:
Reviews Round Up
Laptop Magazine reviews the Linux version of the Inspiron Mini 9, and given a rating of 3.5 out of 5. Here are the pros and cons given by Laptop Magazine:
Pros * Sleek, simple Linux OS * Compact, sturdy design * Decent battery life * Configurable online
Cons * Awkward keyboard * Solid state storage only * Extended battery not yet available
Notebook Review gets their hands on the Linux version as well. While there's no rating given, they have concluded that although the Mini 9 is a great netbook with reasonable price, it does have a few problems that are commonly seen in other netbooks such as heat, annoying glossy plastics, bad keyboard, etc. Here's the pros and cons concluded by Notebook Review:
Pros * Small and light * Easy to use * Very well built and durable * Responsive Synaptics touchpad * Easy to upgrade RAM, SSD, and wireless cards * No noisy cooling fan * Low price for an ultraportable
Cons * Gets a little hot * Glossy plastic lid is a magnet for fingerprints * No F11 or F12 keys, other function keys in strange location * 4-cell battery is nice, 6-cell battery would be better
Cnet has reviewed the Windows XP version and given it a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars. Here's the summary of their review:
The good: More configurable than other Netbooks; good battery life; XP and Linux OS options.
The bad: Some awkward keyboard compromises; no SSD options larger than 16GB.
The bottom line: Dell's entry into the Netbook market means it's time to take these low-cost, low-power PCs seriously. The Inspiron Mini 9 is an excellent example of the form, if not radically different from the competition.
Conclusion From the reviews that we have seen, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is an above average netbook, with reasonable price. But it does have some flaws such as the awkward keyboard design, and larger size HDD & extended battery being unavailable. While these are acceptable, Dell should definitely fix those issues/complains in the next release in order to stay competitive in the netbook market.
